On a day in which it seemed that the momentum was pushing Al Horford back to Atlanta, in a stunning change of events, Horford has decided to sign with the Boston Celtics on a max deal – four-years, $113 million.

Horford has already taken some pre-emptive measures to indicate his choice – he switched his Twitter avatar and cover photo to the Celtics’ logo and jersey.

ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported that the Hawks had offered Horford a five-year, $136 million contract, but he was also reportedly fiercely unhappy with the recent signing of Dwight Howard.

The new deal negates the Hawks’ need to trade Paul Millsap – or perhaps a combination of Tiago Splitter, Mike Scott, and one of Thabo Sefolosha, Tim Hardaway, Kyle Korver, or Dennis Schroder – in order for Al to come back to the ATL on a max contract.

Look for the Hawks to fill out the rest of their cap space from Al Horford’s $18 million cap hold on another free agent.

The Celtics are now in an advantageous position to sign Kevin Durant. First, they would have to renounce the rights to Tyler Zeller and Jared Sullinger, who are both currently free agents.

Then, Boston would need to waive or trade Amir Johnson’s entire non-guaranteed contract and trade Jonas Jerebko for no salary as well, but if they are able to do both smoothly – and if Kevin Durant decides that he wishes to take his talents to Boston – the team could feasibly sign Durant to a max deal as well.

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